How Does Hinge Choose Who To Show You

You’ve downloaded Hinge, built a profile, and you’re starting to get all sorts of cute singles popping up on your app.

If everything is working right, you’re probably feeling pretty good about what you’re seeing. After all, the whole point of Hinge is to bring you and your perfect match together!

So, how exactly does Hinge decide who it shows you as potential partners, and who it doesn’t?

In this article, we’ll find the answers to that question by exploring topics like:

What Hinge’s algorithm is, and the way that it works

How Hinge decides who is and who isn’t your type

Whether Hinge ranks users based on objective attractiveness (spoiler: it doesn’t!)

How you can put your best foot forward and optimize your matches on Hinge

Who exactly Hinge shows you, and why.

Are you ready to master Hinge? Let’s get into it!

Does Hinge Have an Algorithm?

At the beating heart of Hinge is a Nobel-award-winning bit of matchmaking science — known as the Gale-Shapley algorithm. Or, at least, a very similar mechanism.

The Gale-Shapley algorithm was designed to facilitate the trading of items that can’t be purchased with money. The objective values of these items aren't important. What’s important is that both parties feel their items are of equivalent value.

A trade made under these conditions leads to long lasting satisfaction for both traders.

Now, while that might sound like an overly analytical approach to bring to dating, when it comes to algorithms it’s a pretty great system. When you think about it, long lasting satisfaction is exactly something that you’re trying to achieve in a relationship too!

How Does The Hinge Algorithm Work?

The goal of Hinge’s current algorithm is simple: to match like-minded and mutually attracted men, women, and non-binary people with the aim of them becoming a couple.

Behavioral scientist Logan Ury explains that, “Hinge learns who you like and who is most likely to like you back.”

In theory, long lasting and fulfilling relationships are always based on mutual levels of attraction.

Basically, the algorithm is like a computer version of that friend who is always trying to set you up on dates…! The only difference is that the algorithm uses machine learning and powerful data analysis.

That means (and no offense to your friend), the dates the algorithm makes are with people you actually want to meet!

Pretty good for a dating site, right?

How Does Hinge Know Your Type?

When you sign up, the algorithm asks questions about your preferences (age, dealbreakers, interests, etc). Then, as you continue using the dating app, Hinge keeps a track of the profiles you positively respond to.

Over time, Hinge builds a clearer picture of who you might be attracted to, almost as if they were actually in your head.

So, the more screen-time you put in, the better Hinge gets at suggesting possible matches for you and showing you them in your feed!

Does Hinge Show You Equally Attractive People?

We all know that attractiveness plays a significant role in finding dates and building relationships.

We also know that attractiveness is not an objectively measurable quality. Everybody has a type, and those types can be extremely variable.

That’s why Hinge doesn’t care about conventional beauty standards. All Hinge cares about is: what you find attractive in others, and what others find attractive in you!

It’s not about being equally attractive. It’s about being equally attracted.

So, if you want to make connections with someone, you need to put your best foot forward.

That doesn’t mean turning into someone else, it just means highlighting the attractive qualities you already possess.

Working with The Match Artist can help do exactly that. We specialize in helping individuals with their profile pictures on dating apps, and can help you take photos that will actually get you results!

One of our top things we do with all of our clients is facial expression coaching — little things that will really help to make you look the best in all of your photos.

Whether you’re looking directly into the camera, or away from it, smiling, or not, we’ll work with you to make sure you look intentional, sexy, fun, or whatever else you want to show potential matches!

Does Hinge Match You With People in Your League?

In sports, there is such a thing as an ideal athlete. Striving to mold yourself into that athlete is a common strategy for improvement.

But the fact is: dating isn’t a sport. And there are no leagues!

For success in online dating, you should never think of yourself as a competitor trying to score a point.

Hinge doesn’t have any kind of “attractiveness score”. You need to remember that dating is the process of two people trying to have meaningful interactions with each other.

Hinge learns what you and its other users are looking for, and matches people who it believes may be mutually attractive to one another.

Success comes from deciding what features of your physical/social image you are proud of, and focusing on accentuating those.

That’s the content that will get you responses and messages from people you actually want attention from!

How Can I Increase My Chances on Hinge?

To increase your chances on Hinge, you need to understand the algorithm.

The algorithm analyzes everything you have on your profile, plus the comments or Likes that you give to other profiles. Hinge develops a sense of the factors that you find attractive, as well as what makes you attractive to others.

Once Hinge understands you, it’ll match you with users that are likely to find you attractive.

Up until this point, the whole thing has been driven by raw data. Now it’s up to the person looking at your words, Prompts, and photos to decide whether or not to initiate a conversation.

If you’re a man seeking a woman, you’re probably seeing a lot less profiles than she is!

Women see many, many, profiles, which can lead to them developing a rejection mind-set. Most women turn away lots of compatible profiles and only start conversations with users they consider standouts.

So, how do you make yourself a standout profile?

To be completely honest, at this point, selection often comes down to looks. If you “look good” in your photos, you’re more likely to experience a higher number of matches.

Don’t get it twisted though! “Looking good” isn’t about matching any certain beauty standard, or having model features. We all know people who are attractive in person, but are completely unphotogenic!

The things women find attractive in photos are confidence, playfulness, openness, and other positive attitudes. They aren’t sizing up your jaw or obsessing over your biceps. Women are trying to decide if you seem like someone who will be fun and safe to spend time with.

The good news is, anyone can learn how to display positive attitudes when they’re being photographed! This is basically the core skill that models use to be successful.

If you are not photogenic now, with the right coaching, you can absolutely learn to be.

Why Does Hinge Keep Showing Me the Same Person?

This is a pretty common query. It’s natural to assume that if you have rejected someone, Hinge won’t show that profile to you again.

Now, if you’ve spent any time on Hinge, you’ll know it’s fairly normal to see the same profile twice, or get a notification that a profile you’ve previously rejected has Liked you. So what’s going on?

It turns out, giving a rejected profile a second chance is a feature of the Hinge algorithm — not a bug! Studies show that users will frequently change their mind about a profile from session to session.

Behavioral scientist Logan Ury believes that the second chance feature can be a nudge in the right direction from Hinge’s algorithm. Ury reckons, “If Hinge seems to think that this person and I might work well together, why don’t I give them a chance?”

Sometimes, you just have to place your trust in the algorithm!

Does Hinge Pull Matches From Your Friends?

Hinge once had a feature that allowed your friends on Facebook to match you with their friends. Well, those days are gone.

At this time, Hinge doesn’t access Facebook’s social data to match you with any other profiles. Hinge relies on the information you provide and create (such as your name, date of birth, and location) to find you matches.

Does Hinge Show You Everyone?

As you have probably noticed, Hinge doesn’t show you every user in the world that is signed up to their dating network.

Some measures of compatibility are fairly complicated (personality, interests, worldview). Other measures are pretty basic.

When you create a Hinge account, you will set a few basic parameters to begin with — age range and distance from your current location, for example.

Even if another user meets all your requirements, you might not meet all of theirs. This isn’t a bad thing. It’s a great thing, in fact!

The whole point of Hinge is to save you from wasting time on people that just aren’t right for you. That’s why Hinge only shows you the profiles of users it considers to be compatible.

Does Hinge Ever Glitch and Delete Your Matches?

While back in August 2020 Hinge did suffer from a technical glitch due to too many users attempting to log on (we wonder why!), these are not likely a regular occurrence.

In fact, Hinge will never delete your matches for you — the only people who can do that are the two users who have matched!

If you’re suddenly seeing your matches disappearing, this could be for one of a few reasons:

The user deleted their app

The user manually/accidentally unmatched with you

After you update the Hinge app, it could take a moment before your matches repopulate

You haven’t talked to your match in over 14 days.

If they’ve either deleted or unmatched you — sorry buddy! Not a whole lot there you can do but move on.

If you’re not seeing your matches after an update, your best bet is to log out, close the app, then re-open it and log back in. Hopefully this should solve your issue!

And finally, if you haven’t talked to your match in over 14 days — well! That one’s on you, too!

The solution? Don’t wait too long to message your match!

Key Takeaways

Hinge is designed to connect users who are both attractive and attracted to one another. These matches are based on your profile and usage data.

Initial matches are data driven. Whether those matches turn into dates is heavily influenced by the content on your profile — especially your pictures.

Good online dating pictures are primarily determined by both the quality of the photos and the way you present yourself in them.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a gym-bro, or you’re rocking a dad-bod! Successful photos are all about conveying a good vibe and an attractive personality.

The simplest way to ensure you give the right impression in your profile pictures is to work with a professional service — like The Match Artist.

When you work with us, we’ll pair you with a professional photographer who will plan and execute an optimized set of photos for your profile.

Designed to look like very good casual shots, you’ll even change outfits and locations, to give the impression of a variety of different days and occasions.

Crucially, our modeling tips and facial expression coaching leading up to and during your shoot are the real key to improving your online dating experience! We can guarantee that the next time someone is swiping through their phone, with our help, they’ll stop for a moment longer at your profile.

If you’re ready to take online dating seriously, get in touch with the team at The Match Artist!